Board Establishes Direction for Budget Reduction Scenarios

The Wenatchee School Board identified their funding priorities for 2019-2020 during a workshop held on Wednesday, February 6. The District is facing an estimated $5.2 million budget deficit and will use the direction provided by the board to guide budget reductions. 

During the workshop, District staff presented the findings of a recent online budget prioritization survey that was completed by over 1,000 people. The board used the data from the survey, as well as guided discussion of 5 different budget categories where reductions could be made to establish a direction.

The board provided the cabinet with general direction to preserve as many staff as possible and direct services to students, condense costs in programs, reduce additional pay (i.e., stipends, time sheets) and explore ways to consolidate administrative and classified services by spreading these across the system.

The cabinet will use the direction provided by the board to develop scenarios for making the reductions. Scenarios will be presented at the board’s regular meeting on February 12 at 6 p.m. 

More information on the Wenatchee School District budget is available at https://www.wenatcheeschools.org/budget